Do love the oceans, but don’t steal from it

Or worse, attempt to recreate an ocean – in a billionth times (or whatever the fraction) less the space, and for obviously all the wrong reasons.

I haven’t had the time to read up all the news and articles – and I’ve much less time to write a proper, accurate commentary – but to sum it up, Genting Group has revealed in its Sentosa IR bid that among their plans is…

an 8-hectare Marine Quest Life Park
containing some 200 species of marine animals
and 700 000 individuals in total
including whale sharks

For comparison, the main reserve of Sungei Buloh is 87 ha, which isn’t really that big, and for the unenlightened, whale sharks are the largest fish species… the only known existing ones in captivity are in Japan’s Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, the world’s second-largest aquarium… but then again the Japanese aren’t exactly renowned for their marine conservation efforts.

I don’t know what all this sounds like for the average person (“Wow! That’s so cool!” seems like a possibility), but to a conservationist, this is utterly senseless. Where are all the scientists in these institutions? And I mean true marine biologists with working thinking caps on. I can’t really liken this to Project NOAH (that was another joke) but they both articulate the fundamental, glaring senselessness in arguing for commercial gain under the pretense or claimed objectives – and more often than not, unjustifiable – of environmental protection, and nature conservation and education.

As Genting Group CEO Lim Kok Thay he himself said, “All the attractions are experimental”. Now, experiments are not neccessarily a bad idea, but they must be well-designed and mmm, not so risky? This is part of a $5.2 billion project we’re talking about, and thousands of lives of supposedly free-living marine creatures. And gosh, it’s a long-term project so let’s not even talk about how sustainable this is. An experiment in what… alternate, novel ways of attracting tourists and generating revenue, and testing how well marine animals survive and reproduce in less-than-ideal captive environments? Conservation projects should always be founded on good, solid science, and should only be planned and managed in conjunction with other non conservation-oriented domains when avoidance and conflict is inevitable.

Right now I’m dealing with Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (they’re a mean lot to deal with, what with the extreme complexities of roping in conservation science, socio-economic development, rural communities, politics and yadda yaddish… and they’re the main cause of my lack of sleep these days) and those are mostly in developing countries. Most have forgotten the developed countries that have gone beyond purely focusing on nation-buildling and are looking to nation-boosting. Too much wealth, and enough is never enough. Bah!

Many others have written what I would like to express but am too lazy to echo.

Have a look:
Article on Today
Load of links to news, articles and discussions on WildSingapore
FiNS Forum
Blogs here, here and here
Whale Sharks in captivity

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.